Campaigns

Roşia Montana  2001 -  present

Starting in 2001 the Environmental Partnership Foundation expressed its opposition to the eco-destructive investment of the Romanian-Canadian enterprise in the area of Roşia Montana. The Foundation participated actively in the campaign named Save Roşia Montana. Its activity consisted of  financially supporting non-governmental organizations of the area but it was also a member of the coalition that fought for respecting the law in the case of this unsustainable project.

No Dakar Rally in the Romanian Protected Areas, 2008

After cancelling the original version of the Dakar Rally due to terrorist threats, the organizers decided to move the rally route to Central and Eastern Europe, namely to Hungary and Romania. Checking the route of the rally we realized that it passed through several protected areas that are part of the Natura 2000 network, which would have been both illegal and eco-destructive. Furthermore, the longest and most eco-destructive part of the rally was scheduled for April 22, Earth Day. The Environmental Partnership Foundation alerted the Natura 2000 coalition and as a result 50 organizations signed the letter that was sent to the director of the rally.

At the same time we informed the media representatives and the Ministry of Environmental Protection about the threat, drawing their attention to the following facts:
• Part of the rally route goes through Natura 2000 sites, which under the law of Romania are protected areas,
• The scheduled date of the rally in the protected areas would be the Earth Day. A rally organized on such a day would convey an extremely negative message, especially when the whole world is concerned about global warming and other similar major environmental problems.

The organizers were also asked to take into consideration the possibility of contributing to the celebration of the Earth Day by suspending the rally on April 22, postponing it to another day and selecting another route.
The letter warned the organizers that if the request of the NGO coalition was not respected, a campaign would be organized in order to draw the public's attention to the fact that an eco-destructive event is more important to the sponsors of the rally than the contribution to nature conservation. At the same time both the organizers of the rally and the authorities were reminded that article 52.d of Law 265/2006 banned vehicles running on fossil fuels in protected areas for sports. After handing over the letter negotiations began with the organizers of the event. Finally the organizers shortened the rally route and most of the event was held in Hungary. The Romanian route of the rally was reduced to one single day, and even more importantly the fact that the route never entered protected areas.

The  Foundation prevented the building of a hazardous waste incinerator in Ciuc basin , 2008

After an unsuccessful attempt to build a hazardous waste incinerator without any permit in Brașov County, some investors tried to move the project to Harghita County. They persuaded the mayor of the village Sânmartin to accept this project. Everything was done without involving local people and without transparency. When we heard about this project we asked the group of investors and the local council of the village through the media to inform people about the investment concerned and its potential dangers. The Environmental Partnership Foundation warned the organizers about the potential dangers of such an investment in a location like Ciuc basin, which because of weather conditions, particularly temperature inversions, is totally inappropriate for an incinerator of this type. Finally, due to public pressure, both investors and local council dropped the idea.

Campaign to save the Mădăraş stream, 2006-2007

Upon request from part of the local community of Mădăraş village, the Environmental Partnership Foundation initiated and implemented a campaign which aimed to stop an unsustainable and eco-destructive water-control engineering of the village stream. The project did not comply either with the Romanian legislation or with the Water Framework Directive of the European Union. It was initiated by the Water Management Administration System of Harghita County and began to be implemented without any building or environmental permits. Moreover, the methodology adopted was totally inadequate in terms of environmental protection (a concrete channel). Thanks to the campaign initiated by the Environmental Partnership Foundation the project implementation was stopped in 2006. Meanwhile, those who initiated this water management project were forced to prepare an environmental impact study. Unfortunately concreting the streambed was largely achieved.

Romanian Forestry Project, 2001

In November, 2001 the Environmental Partnership Foundation together with the CEE Bankwatch network organized a training session for 25 Romanian NGOs. The purpose of the training was to raise awareness among the NGOs about the potential environmental damaging effect of the huge investment projects financed by large international financial institutions.
As a result of the meeting, 10 of the participant NGOs, CEE Bankwatch and REPF engaged themselves in a powerful campaign related to the forestry development project that would be financed by the World Bank.
As results of the two different levels of the campaign (at World Bank in Washington and at the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Forests), the NGOs were invited to a meeting with the Ministry officials in order to clarify some of the unclear aspects of the project. The major outcome was an agreement, which stated that one NGO representative would be included in the monitoring committee of the project.

 Campaign for St. Ann-Lake, 2001

The Harghita County Council adopted a decision that permitted the access of cars and improper commercial activities at the Saint - Ann Lake and Mohos Peat Bog Natural Reserve. The decision represented a big danger for the area, due to the fact that Saint - Ann Lake is the only crater lake of Central Eastern Europe, and relies solely on rainwater and snow melting. In July, 2001, REPF sent personal protest letters to each and every County Council member asking them to withdraw the decision and at the same time offered several sustainable solutions. Protest letters were also sent to the media representatives in order to raise public awareness.

We realized that in addition to the media and NGOs, the Environmental Protection Inspectorate was a reliable partner in the campaign. As a direct result of the campaign, the Prefect of Harghita County declared the decision illegal. The County Council was forced to withdraw its decision.